Monday, May 14, 2018

I'm Trying Hand Stitching!!!!

Alright, so you all know I am not great at hand stitching ;) I machine attach my bindings and if they have to be done by hand, Barbara attaches them for me. I do all my applique by machine, and the little bit of embroidery embellishments in blocks I have done in the past I have figured out how to do on the machine as well. But Softball season has started, and this year I have 2 girls participating, which makes it feel like I am pretty much living at the softball fiends in the evenings. So . . . I decided it was probably time I tried a hand project!!!

And what better way to try something new than with the help of Tula!!!! I love Tula Pink's designs and prints, so when I saw that she had converted some of her amazing sketches into embroidery designs in her new Tula Pink Coloring with Thread book I was all over it!!! The book comes with a disk that has all of the PDF designs so it was super easy to just print the design on a Pellon Stick-N-Washaway sheet sheet :) Way easier than trying to trace it!!!

I let my daughter pick out what design I should try, because they are all so amazing there was no way I could pick a favorite. Jessi choose the Sea Horse because it reminded her of Spring Break!! And I realized that I still had my Bonnie and Camille Handmade Embroidery Floss Collection that I got in one of my Sew Sampler boxes, perfect for getting going on this project :) And the book has an awesome color guide to follow so no hard choices there!!

There is a fantastic stitch guide in the front of Coloring with Thread that makes it easy, even for a beginner like me, to see how to make each of the different stitches in the design. I am starting with the basic outlining because you have to crawl before you can run right ;) I haven't gotten very far, it is slow going to be sure. I am hoping as I get better at making my stitch length consistent that it will speed up. But so far, I am enjoying it. It might be several softball seasons before I get it done, but it is nice to have something to keep my hands busy while I sit at the ball park :)

So what about you??? Have you tried hand embroidery??? Any suggestions to help a beginner???

And crazy thought, this is making me think I might be able to try English Paper Piecing!!! Any suggestions of where to start there??

Yup, this is me jumping into the deep end of Hand Stitching, well see if I sink or swim ;)

7 comments:

When I'm doing hand stitching, whether it is smocking, embroidery, cross stitch, etc., I use beeswax or Thread Heaven on my thread. Beeswax or Thread Heaven keep your thread smooth and together and your thread will glide through your fabric. Many years ago when I learned hand stitching, I was told the back should be as neat as the front. Be careful carrying a dark thread on the back, if you are stitching on light colored fabric. The dark thread will leave a shadow on the front. Relax and enjoy. The even stitches will come with practice.

Wowwwwww. This looks nice.I have a three hour dental appointment on Friday and planning on bringing embroidery - just making fancy labels for two quilts. That will be fun. The dental thing, ugh, it is an implant and I am not excited or elated about getting it, it is a molar, so it's not like some big fancy blazing sparkly tooth. :-PYour stitching looks marvelous and this is a very very sweet pattern

WOW!! How brave you are!! Best of luck and I am cheering you on! I haven't tried embroidery yet, but I did pick up EPP last year and it is fun, easy, and addicting!!! I am taking a Sashiko class in June at my local quilt store and I can't wait! I hope I can get the hang of it because it is such a cool look!! Keep us posted!!

I’ve been hand embroidering for decades, and I do enjoy it. The best site I can recommend for you is Mary Corbet’s site, Needlenthread(dot)com. There is a “how to” section that has videos of basic, intermediate and advanced stitches. They’re clear and high quality. Learn from the best!!

I hand embroidered a lot as a teenager but now my go-to take along projects are always EPP. So fun, addictive, and definitely portable. Start with a simple hexagon flower and you'll be hooked. Sue Daley has some great projects and tutorials.

I learned to embroider as a child (we won't mention how long ago that was ;) ) and did quite a bit of it - tablecloths, handkerchiefs, and such. For the last 30 or so years however, I've done cross stitch. I have a project that I've worked on for years - I only stitch on it when I travel. It's about 80% done, so I figuring another couple of years and I'll be able to have it framed.

Your new stitching project looks like fun! Our small sewing group tried the Winter Diamonds kit by Primitive Gatherings as a beginner English Paper Piecing project. It also has a touch of wool applique (I'm doing mine by machine with regular threads). Has been a fun project so far. https://www.primitivegatherings.us/shop/product/12025-winter-diamonds.html

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